Firefighters battle warehouse blaze

Sunday

Firefighters continued to battle a blaze Saturday evening hours after it began at a former textile plant now being used as a warehouse.

Firefighters continued to battle a blaze Saturday evening, hours after it began at a former textile plant now being used as a warehouse.

Flames gutted the building Saturday, sending black smoke billowing and initially bringing about 80 Gastonia firefighters to the scene.

Crews were dispatched at 8 a.m. to the former National Textiles mill at 1925 W. Poplar St. in west Gastonia. Wix Filters now uses the building as a warehouse.

The fire raged out of control in several areas of the building, causing officials to declare the blaze a three-alarm fire and call for more crews to respond, said Gastonia Fire Chief Phil Welch. About eight volunteer departments assisted city firefighters.

He estimates the fire will not be totally extinguished until Sunday afternoon. Crews remain on the scene in part to make sure areas where fire was out would not reignite.

On Sunday, the city fire marshals’ office and the Gastonia Police Department will launch an investigation into the cause of the fire.

A forklift operator at the warehouse told fire officials that he saw the lights inside flash. Fire soon consumed four separate areas of the old mill, Welch said.

Fire officials will work to determine if an electrical transformer exploded at the rear of the building, he said.

Fueling flames was the center area of the warehouse, which was stocked full of paper, light metal and filters.

“It was so tough to get into because of the dense stock (of supplies) and because of the building construction,” Welch said.

Sprinklers activated in several areas of the warehouse but the fire soon spread. Three people were working in the warehouse when the fire began, but no one was injured, Welch said.

Several fire trucks with extended ladders pumped 1,000 gallons of water per minute onto the building. Welch said some brick walls collapsed because of the fire. Other walls had to be taken down so firefighters could reach the flames.

The 172,000-square-foot building was built in 1917 and has a value of almost $1.2 million. It sold for just $90,000 last year to Gastonia Poplar Invest LLC, according to Gaston County tax records.

Welch said certain parts of the warehouse suffered minimal flame and smoke damage. Other areas appear destroyed. Mounds of paper and filter stock, doused in water, sit at one side of the building alongside crumbled brick.

“It’s been years since we’ve had a three-alarm fire in Gastonia,” he said. “That’s just the magnitude of it.”

A roof made of heavy timber and covered with gravel made it difficult for firefighters to reach certain parts of the building. Sounding a third alarm brought in more manpower. Crews on the scene rotated shifts and some off-duty firefighters also responded.

Welch said no firefighters were injured.

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